FUE Hair Transplantation
Conveniently located to serve the areas of San Antonio, TX
Follicular Unit Extraction, more commonly referred to as FUE, is one of the two primary harvest methods employed in hair transplantation. The process of performing FUE involves the extraction of grafts containing one follicular unit each using a small cylindrical punch and then transplanting those grafts into areas of hair loss. These newly transplanted follicular units are harvested from an area on the back of your head where the hairs are resistant to DHT, the hormone that causes hair loss. This area is referred to as the donor area. The follicular units harvested from the donor area maintain the property of being resistant to DHT, even when transplanted into areas of hair loss and will continue to grow hair for the remainder of your life. Hair transplantation allows your own hair to permanently grow in areas of previous hair loss or thinning.
Dr. O’Dea with Premier Hair Restoration is fellowship trained in hair restoration surgery and constantly keeps up to date in the latest technologies and techniques in the art of hair restoration. Contact us at (210) 642-2291 to learn more about hair transplantation or to schedule a free consultation. We look forward to helping you achieve your hair restoration goals.
What are Follicular Units
Follicular units are small clusters of hair follicles, typically ranging from one to four hairs per follicular unit. These clusters of hair follicles contain shared structures, including glands, muscles, nerves, fat, and blood vessels. There is an average of between 2.5 and 3 hair follicles in every follicular unit. At Premier Hair Restoration we transplant follicular units in their entirety, meaning that if you get a surgery with 2000 grafts, you will be receiving on average between 5000 and 6000 transplanted hairs.
Contents
What is FUE?
FUE is the newest and most innovative method of harvesting follicular units for hair transplantation. Traditional FUE involves clipping the hair short in the donor area and then using a rotating cylindrical punch to extract individual follicular units from the donor area that will then be transplanted into the recipient area where there is hair loss or hair thinning. More recent innovations in FUE include the use of FUE machines and punches that perform oscillation and vibration in addition to rotation allowing for greater accuracy in harvesting of follicular units, as well as some FUE machines and punches that allow for harvesting of long hair using FUE, eliminating the need to clip the hair short prior to harvesting. Because a small punch is used to harvest the follicular units no suturing is required and no linear scar that is formed. The donor area where the follicular units are harvested heals after around seven days.
What are the Benefits of Hair Transplantation?
Hair transplantation allows you create a new hairline if your hairline has receded and allows you to fill in areas where you have lost hair or have thinning hair. This is done using your own hair and it will grow and behave just like the rest of your hair for the rest of your life. You can cut it, style it, and get it wet just as you would the rest of your hair. Many patients feel an increase in confidence and and increase in attractiveness after hair transplantation.
What are the Benefits of FUE?
The benefits of FUE include:
- Local anesthesia only without the need for deep sedation or general anesthesia
- No need for sutures
- Minimal scarring that is easily covered by the remaining hair
- No linear scar
- Relatively short recovery period
Who is a Candidate for FUE?
Men with male pattern hair loss, women with female pattern hair loss, and both men and women who have hair loss due to scars from trauma or burns are candidates for FUE. People with hair loss for other reasons, including autoimmune disorders and various types of scarring alopecias may be candidates for FUE depending on the specific cause and whether the cause has been successfully treated.
Personal Consultation
At Premier Hair Restoration, Dr. O’Dea will provide a complimentary consultation that includes evaluating your history of hair loss, your family history of hair loss, examination of your hair loss pattern, and discussion of your personal hair restoration goals in order to tailor a hair restoration plan specifically to you as an individual.
Surgical Hair Restoration Planning
The most important component of a successful hair transplant is a well developed plan tailored to you as an individual. This is where the art meets the science. Dr. O’Dea will take into consideration your age, your current hair loss pattern, your medical history, and your family history of hair loss to develop a plan catered to you that will give you the fullest and most natural appearing result possible. A natural appearance is the ultimate goal. We do not aim for perfection because perfect looks fake and manufactured. We aim for a natural appearance that includes a hairline designed jointly with you in its shape and location that Dr. O’Dea will then create with natural appearing curves, undulations, and minor imperfections to give the most natural appearance possible. This natural appearance will help make the hair transplant unnoticeable to other people.
Preparation
For most people minimal preparation is needed for a hair transplant surgery. Prescriptions will be sent to your pharmacy for you to pick up before your procedure so that they will be available to you as soon as you get home from the procedure. The only medication to take beforehand is the first dose of a short course of steroids which is taken the day before the procedure. For people with significant medical problems or who are on medications that may interfere with the surgery, more planning may be needed. On the day of surgery, several medications are given orally to help with both the procedure and the healing process.
Procedure
The procedure has five main phases. The first phase is the planning phase. This includes designing a hairline jointly with you that fits you personally and that you are happy with. Following the design phase, local anesthesia is administered to donor area to allow for the harvest. The third phase is the harvest of the grafts using the FUE technique. This phase of the surgery typically takes two to three hours. Following the harvest, local anesthesia is administered to the recipient area. The fourth phase is the creation of the recipient sites for transplantation. This is done using a small 1mm to 1.5mm scalpel. Each site is where a single graft will later be placed. The creation of the sites is how we execute the plan that was made at the beginning of the surgery. The combination of planning and site creation according to that plan are the two most important components of hair restoration surgery. Following site creation, the grafts are placed individually into each of the sites that have been made.
Recovery
Recovery after FUE is relatively short compared to other types of surgery. The small punctures where the donor grafts were harvested typically heal closed in around seven days. For the recipient site the grafts are very easy to accidentally pull out of place for the first several days, so we recommend you spend several days mostly resting in a reclining position. After three to four days, the possibility of accidentally pulling out grafts is no longer an issue. The grafts will typically then form a crust which will fall off around seven to ten days after surgery. After the surgery most people have mild to moderate pain that is easily treated with Tylenol, ibuprofen, or a milder prescription pain medication such as tramadol.
What is the Cost of FUE?
FUE costs nationally typically range from $4.50 per graft to $6.50 per graft depending on the location of the practice, long hair vs. short hair FUE, and other factors. Here at Premier Hair Restoration, the typical cost is around $5.00 per graft.
FAQ
Can I get more than one hair transplant?
Yes! Many people get more than one hair transplant over the course of their lifetimes. While the transplanted hairs will grow for the remainder of your life and medications including minoxidil and finasteride can help slow the progression of your natural hair loss pattern, many men with male pattern baldness continue to see some degree of hair loss involving the native hairs in the thinning or balding areas and choose to get additional transplants later in life. This continued thinning applies only to the hairs already in the thinning or balding areas that were destined to fall out in the future. It does not apply to the hairs that have been transplanted as those will continue to grow permanently.
How many grafts can be transplanted in one procedure?
Dr. O’Dea prefers to do a maximum of 2500-3000 grafts per procedure because performing larger procedures risks disrupting the blood supply in the recipient area to an extent that may lead to a decreased survival rate of the grafts.
How many grafts can be transplanted over a lifetime?
The typical recommendation is that a maximum of 5000-6000 grafts be harvested from the donor area using FUE over the course of your lifetime. Harvesting more grafts from the donor area risks creating a look of abnormal thinning in the donor area.
Can women get hair transplants?
Yes! While most of our patients are indeed men with male pattern baldness, we take care of both men and women who suffer from hair loss for any reason. It is important to note that there are many medical conditions that can cause hair thinning or hair loss in women, so a work up including blood tests and sometimes a scalp biopsy is often indicated prior to performing hair transplantation. And because there are many medical causes of hair loss in women, many women will see improvement in their hair loss with medical treatment alone without the need for a hair transplant. For some women, including women with female pattern hair loss, a hair transplant is perfectly appropriate.
